Chaotic Corner

TV & Film Recommendations

TV & Film Recommendations

This page is a list of my personal TV and film recommendations, sorted into categories to make browsing easier.

With streaming constantly shifting and titles regularly disappearing from platforms, finding something worth watching isn’t always straightforward, so this list aims to highlight things I think are genuinely worth your time. I have tried to include what I consider to be the best, with a variety here, but I admit I’m not the biggest horror fan. Some notes have been included.

Last updated: October 2026

Jump to: Top 10s | Films | Documentaries | Animation | Drama / Crime / Thriller | Comedy | Superhero / Sci-Fi / Fantasy

Top 10s

Top 10 Movies (no real order)

  1. The Matrix (1999)
  2. Spirited Away (2001)
  3. Hot Fuzz (2007)
  4. The Dark Knight (2008)
  5. Skyfall (2012)
  6. The Big Short (2015)
  7. Logan (2017)
  8. The Death of Stalin (2017)
  9. Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
  10. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024)

Top 10 TV (no real order)

  1. QI (2003)
  2. The Thick of It (2005)
  3. Breaking Bad (2008)
  4. Gravity Falls (2012)
  5. Utopia (2013)
  6. Better Call Saul (2015)
  7. Jessica Jones (2015)
  8. Ozark (2017)
  9. Bluey (2018)
  10. Heartstopper (2022)

Film Recommendations

Ordered by release year, with series grouped together.

  • Fantasia (1940)
  • On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) — One of my favourite older Bond movies.
  • Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979)
  • Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) — The best Star Wars film.
  • Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
  • The Snowman (1982)
  • Back to the Future (1985)
  • Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
  • Beetlejuice (1988) — Sequel is meant to be good.
  • Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)
  • Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
  • Aladdin (1992)
  • Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) — Ahead of its time in exploring gender, identity and queerness.
  • Wallace & Gromit (1993–2024) — Grand Day Out was a student project
  • The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
  • Pulp Fiction (1994)
  • Mission: Impossible (1996) and Fallout (2018) — The first is not the best in the series, but it’s a grounded spy thriller.
  • Perfect Blue (1997) — Masterpiece of animation
  • The Truman Show (1998)
  • The Matrix (1999) — Often seen as a trans allegory.
  • Toy Story 2 (1999)
  • South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
  • Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
  • Chicken Run (2000)
  • Spirited Away (2001) — One of my favourite films of all time.
  • Catch Me If You Can (2002)
  • Kill Bill: Vol. 1 & 2 (2003–2004) — Vol. 1 is all style; Vol. 2 focuses on the story.
  • Layer Cake (2004)
  • Man on Fire (2004) — A dark film about kidnapping. Good but not great.
  • Shaun of the Dead (2004)
  • Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)
  • The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
  • The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
  • Hot Fuzz (2007)
  • The Dark Knight (2008)
  • Ponyo (2008)
  • Tropic Thunder (2008) — Ben Stiller’s best movie imo.
  • Inglourious Basterds (2009)
  • Watchmen (2009) — A famously “unadaptable” comic, pretty decent effort.
  • In the Loop (2009)
  • Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
  • The King’s Speech (2010) — Small-budget British movie based on a true story about the Royal family.
  • Margin Call (2011)
  • Paul (2011)
  • Skyfall (2012) — My pick for the best James Bond film. I do think others are worth watching.
  • Django Unchained (2012)
  • The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
  • Captain Phillips (2013) — Mid-budget movie based on a true story about modern day pirates.
  • Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods (2013)
  • Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) — Best MCU movie?
  • The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
  • The Lego Movie (2014)
  • X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) — My favourite Fox X-Men movie.
  • Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)
  • Pride (2014) — Small budget LGBTQ movie based on a true story, shows how we have more in common.
  • The Big Short (2015)
  • Deadpool (2016) — Smaller budget, tight narrative. I think this is the better film over the sequel, but they’re both really good.
  • Zootopia (2016) — Just a fun movie, sequel is quite good too.
  • Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) — Best of the modern Star Wars movies.
  • The Death of Stalin (2017)
  • Logan (2017) — One of the best superhero movies made, great on its own.
  • The Foreigner (2017)
  • The LEGO Batman Movie (2017) — Strangely, this is one of the best Batman adaptations, also a kids movie based on Lego.
  • Call Me by Your Name (2017)
  • Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
  • Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019) — The end of the MCU’s decade-long run, a fitting end to a story over so many movies.
  • Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019)
  • Sonic the Hedgehog Trilogy (2020–2024) — One of the best video game adaptations. 2nd movie is weaker than the other two.
  • Don’t Look Up (2021)
  • Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) — Smaller budget movie, one of my all time favourites.
  • Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022) — Small-budget biographical musical parody, started as a joke but turned into a movie.
  • Barbie (2023)
  • The Boy and the Heron (2023)
  • Wicked (2024)
  • Knives Out: Wake Up Dead Man (2025) — Best out of Knives Out so far, far superior film, does a really great job.

Documentary Recommendations

Ordered by release year.

  • Blue Planet (2001) — With a follow-up in 2017.
  • Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)
  • How Many People Can Live on Planet Earth? (2009)

TV Recommendations

Ordered by start year.

Animation (Anime & Western)

  • The Simpsons (1991) — Seasons 3–15 recommended.
  • South Park (1997) — Satire at its finest. Some of the earlier seasons are weaker, but it really has remained good.
  • King of the Hill (1997)
  • Futurama (1999) — Cancelled so many times, best work from the creator of The Simpsons imo.
  • Death Note (2006)
  • Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) — Star Wars animation is a bright spot, so good we got more great characters from it.
  • Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (2009)
  • Archer (2009)
  • Bob’s Burgers (2011)
  • Gravity Falls (2012) — Just two seasons but packed so much heart into it, rather funny.
  • Attack on Titan (2013)
  • Rick and Morty (2013)
  • Seven Deadly Sins (2014)
  • One Punch Man (2015)
  • Castlevania (2017)
  • Hilda (2018)
  • The Hollow (2018)
  • Final Space (2018) — Really annoyed I liked this show so much but it got cancelled and removed, can’t stream it or buy it now.
  • Bluey (2018) — Show about a dog family from Australia that’s really quite good.
  • Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020) — A love letter to Star Trek.
  • Arcane (2021)
  • X-Men ’97 (2024) — Revival of the original series which is really good, returns to form.
  • Terminator Zero (2024)

Drama / Crime / Thriller

  • The Thick of It (2005)
  • Mad Men (2007)
  • Breaking Bad (2008)
  • Suits (2011)
  • The Borgias (2011)
  • Line of Duty (2012)
  • House of Cards (US) (2013) — Seasons 1–4 are good, you can skip the rest.
  • Orange Is the New Black (2013) — One of Netflix’s first hit shows, it’s really good.
  • Utopia (2013) — Short, only 12 episodes in total, worth a watch. Just two seasons before it was cancelled.
  • Fargo (2014)
  • How to Get Away with Murder (2014) — Seasons 1–3 are best, and season 3 is a good place to stop.
  • Better Call Saul (2015)
  • Narcos (2015)
  • Stranger Things (2016)
  • The Crown (2016)
  • GLOW (2017)
  • Ozark (2017)
  • Chernobyl (2019)
  • El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019)
  • It’s a Sin (2021) — About the AIDS crisis in 1980s Britain, an important story the LGBTQ community these days forgets about.
  • Heartstopper (2022)
  • The Gentlemen (2024)
  • Mr Bates vs The Post Office (2024) — A dramatisation of one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British history.
  • Adolescence (2025)

Comedy / Light-Hearted

  • Malcolm in the Middle (2000) / Life’s Still Unfair (2026)
  • Scrubs (2001) — Skip season 9. Watch the revival.
  • Arrested Development (2003)
  • QI (2003)
  • The Office (US) (2005) — Seasons 1–7, you can skip anything after that.
  • Parks and Recreation (2009)
  • Friday Night Dinner (2011)
  • Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013) — This was a surprise, just really funny, great cast, a really good idea done right.
  • BoJack Horseman (2014) — Deals with mental health themes and gets dark, but still genuinely funny.
  • Schitt’s Creek (2015)
  • Taskmaster (2015) — Inclusive panel show or game show. Skip series 22 due to certain cast members and their past comments and jokes.
  • Superstore (2015) — Skip season 6.
  • The Good Place (2016)
  • Motherland (2016)
  • A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017)
  • Derry Girls (2018) — This is pure gold, honestly so funny.
  • After Life (2019)

Superhero / Sci-Fi / Fantasy

  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993)
  • Star Trek: Voyager (1995)
  • Doctor Who (2005) — Series 11–13 (2018–2021) are the weakest, but the rest is well worth watching.
  • Heroes (2006) — Watch series 1 skip the rest. Save the cheerleader save the world.
  • Game of Thrones (2011) — Skip seasons 7–8, sadly feels rushed.
  • Gotham (2014)
  • Daredevil (2015) / Daredevil: Born Again (2025)
  • Jessica Jones (2015) — Season 1 is fantastic; skip the rest.
  • Watchmen (2019)
  • Good Omens (2019) 
  • The Umbrella Academy (2019) — Fun superhero family drama; the final season is shorter but great overall.
  • Loki (2021)
  • Andor (2022)
  • Fallout (2024) — Based on the video game

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